A number of foot-actuated drum beaters are available in the prior art. These drum beaters include single-hammer, single-pedal beaters as taught by Fearns U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,441, and multiple-hammer beaters as taught in Escamilla U.S. Pat. No. 3,988,957 and Bills U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,853, and multiple-pedal multiple-hammer drum beaters as taught in Carver 3,968,718. Each of these beater arrangements is configured to provide a multiple number of beats to a drum.
Fearns relies upon a foot pedal which must be rocked forward with the toe and backward with the heel to provide the multiple drum beats. Escamilla relies on a similar action. However, two hammers and a split foot pedal are utilized to accomplished the multi beat. Carver relies upon multiple hammers and two drums to create a multi-beat sound. Bills teaches a beater which selectively utilizes one or two hammers to produce a dual-beat sound. In order to create two beats for each hammer, an oscillating shaft, which causes the hammer to strike the drum once during the downward movement of the pedal and once during the upward movement of the pedal, is utilized.
Of the drum beaters taught in the prior art, those producing more than one beat per hammer utilize the downward motion of a foot pedal to create the first beat, and the upward motion to create a second beat. These devices are therefore limited to producing two beats per pedal action and do not allow the drum player to select a single beat, because upon release of the pedal, the second beat is automatic.